Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). The famous definition of faith with which the eleventh chapter of Hebrews opens has received a number of different interpretations. The crux of the problem is the interpretation of the words translated in…
This essay is an exploration of one element of the final of the four Gospels, the Gospel of John. My thesis is that the Gospel of John answers the issue of "friendship" being a homoerotic category. It challenges the "Greek Way of Love and Friendship" 1 It is indeed the…
"And I also way to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it" (Matthew 16:18). Matthew 16:13ff. has historically been one of the most oft-cited passages of Scripture. Throughout the Middle Ages, it was used…
Matthew 8-9 records three clusters of miracles, interspersed with snatches of Jesus’ teaching about various aspects of discipleship. Just as the Sermon on the Mount displays the authority of Jesus’ Word in teaching, these chapters display the authority of Jesus’ Word over sickness, uncleanness, the creation, demons, and death. In…
The association of women and wells in the Scriptures has long been noted by theologians, a symbolism closely connected to marriage which begins in Genesis and climaxes in Revelation. There is a lesson drawn in the water of wells that I’d like to explore, but before that I must trace…
Of course, since the Israelites had agriculture, Solomon was not paleolithic as that term is used today. But "paleo" is simply a prefix meaning old or previous , the opposite of "neo." In that sense, I wonder if we might understand Solomon better if we interpret his statements and riddles…
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Karl Wojtya (aka, John Paul II) deftly charts the collapse of utilitarianism into egoism in Love and Responsibility (37-39): Utilitarianism makes pleasure the overriding aim of human action. But pleasure is a momentary good, and a good only for a particular person. A utilitarian might attempt to maximize the pleasure…
Joe Rigney sent along an unpublished paper on Galatians 2. He translates verses 15-16 this way: “We are Jews by nature and not ‘sinners’ from the Gentiles. Nevertheless, because we know that a ‘man of the works of the Law’ is not justified except through faith in Jesus Christ, even…
According to Paul, Peter feared “those of circumcision” (Galatians 2:12; Gr. tous ek peritomes ). Elsewhere in the context, Paul speaks of those who are “of nations sinners” (2:15), “of works of the law” (2:16) and “of the faith of Christ” (2:16). Each time, Paul uses the proposition ek ,…
Paul charges the Galatians with quickly “translating” from the one who called them to another gospel (Galatians 1:6). What is the otherness of this other gospel? Merit? Works righteousness? Wearing the badges of Judaism? In context, it must be most immediately related to Paul’s summary of Jesus’ achievement in 1:4:…
In his philosophical phase, Walker Percy meditated deeply on perception and knowledge, and their relationship to symbols and language. This superb passage is from a 1958 essay in the Journal of Philosophy : “If I see an object at some distance and do not quite recognize it, I may see…
No ought from is, say the philosophers. Says who? says Clifford Geertz ( The Interpretation Of Cultures (Basic Books Classics) ). Not, he points out, most people in most cultures most of the time. For them, ethos and ontology are inseparable: “Like bees who fly despite theories of aeronautics which…
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